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House “NSV”

The request of the client was the transformation of an old farmhouse composed of a main building and a cattle shed. Following the first studies, the attention was focused on the main building, chosen by the client to install its house. We wanted to set ahead the elements that have a significant architectural value: the masonry or the wooden structure of the roof for example. This upgrading was supplemented by some specific contemporary interventions on the outside and by a deep refitting of the interior spaces. The dwelling, very decayed, was the object of a heavy restoration, only the basic structure (walls and roof structure) was preserved. A special attention was given to the structure: much reinforcement, out concrete, fastenings and ties, were necessary to maintain the existing structure. On the outside, the “contemporary” interventions are keys between the old architecture and the new elements.

The external coating offers a texture that homogenizes the heteroclite masonry and accentuates the materiality, the plastic “sensuality” of the frontages. An element made of birch is composed of various arrangements, the staircases, the cloakroom and the WC. Men cross it; men walks on it, to reach the first floor. This architectural element shapes all over the width of the house, is turned over, gone up to the upper level… At the upper level, spaces let appear all their height under the roof. The bathrooms are volumes with flat roof on which is placed an indirect lighting. Through the various spaces of the dwelling, the three old wooden structures are magnified, crossing volumes, skirting walls, disappearing and re-appearing at other places, being based on a new structure,… A special attention was given to this old farm in order to meet the current energy standards and the comfort required for a family use in 2010 – roof, ground floor and walls insulation, radiant heating, solar panels for the hot water, re-use of the rainwater…